Lecture (2) - Part I - Native Americans

I. 566 federally recognized Indian and Alaskan native tribes and villages in the U.S.
II. Each with its own culture, language, distinct styles of housing, dress and food and
unique traditions and history .
III. The total population of Native Americans is estimated by +9ml (2.9% of the total U.S.
population)  California, Arizona and Oklahoma having the largest populations.
IV. Most Native Americans live in small towns or rural areas (reservations).
V. Many reservations are still independent of state law and their citizens are subject only to
tribal and federal law.
VI. Some U.S. cities and state names are derived from Native American languages or are
named after native tribes: Delaware, Detroit, Alabama, Kansas, Massachusetts,
Dakota…
VII. Native Americans became U.S. citizens with the Indian Citizenship Act of 1924.
 the government allowed states to decide whether or not to guarantee them the right to
vote (the last state to grant them this right was Utah in 1962).
I. Peopling of the Americas started 20,000 to 40,000 years ago:
1. A land bridge connected Siberia to Alaska (Beringia  Bering Strait).
2. Those people were hunters and gatherers (looking for sources of food).
3. As the ice melted, the bridge was sealed off and these Paleo-Indian groups were
isolated.
II. Those groups spread across North, Central, and South America:
1. Countless tribes emerged with an estimated 2,000 languages.
2. Overtime, they would learn to adapt, form civilizations and develop their own unique
cultural traits and characteristics.
3. Notable civilizations include: the Incas, the Mayas and the Aztecs.
4. North American native civilizations never achieved the level of sophistication of their
South American neighbors.
I. Indians adjusted to changing environment:
II. The development of agriculture 8,000 years ago revolutionized Native American
Cultures:
Its people migrated from
Asia to North America. They were hunter-gathere who relied on hunting large
animals using crafted stone spearheads.
Also hunter-gatherers who made a

distinctive set of stone tools. They relied on hunting. Birds, reptiles
and fish were excellent sources of food and relatively easy to capture.
first to domesticate plants that later

became the staple grain crops of farmers. They were the first also to build
earthen mounds to be initially used as sacred spaces for rituals.
were located in the

Eastern Woodlands of the Ohio Valley. They were subsistence farmers who lived
in small structured villages. Their mounds were used for burial and residential
purposes.
Mound building continued and

developed during the Woodland Period and craftwork became more refined,
evidenced by statuary, tools, and weapons.
Tools (Dalton Culture)
Clovis Points (Paleoindian Culture)
Tools (Archaic Culture)
Mounds (different cultures)

was located in the desert region of the
southwestern United States. Its people adapted to their environment by
building their homes literally into the rugged cliffs and were subsistence
farmers (Pueblos/cliff dwellers).
was located along the flood plain

and fertile valleys of the Mississippi River. Its people used social ranking as a
fundamental part of their social structure (elite chiefs & commoners).
Mississippians were considered to be surplus farmers.
 Cahokia,
1.
Mississippian Culture
1. Pueblo Houses
 was a humid, fertile agricultural a huge dry desert region with harsher
region. environment.
 Many of its natives were expert developed two distinct ways of life.
farmers.
Tribes include: Navajo, Apache, Yuma
 Tribes include: Cherokee, Chickasaw,
Choctaw, Creek and Seminole (Five
Civilized Tribes).
 Known also as Eastern Woodlands,  a mild climate and an abundance of

shared by tribes speaking two natural resources (the ocean, the
different languages. rivers and the forests).
 The Algonkians (Powhatan) relied on  The tribes there (Wakashan, Haida)

hunting, fishing and farming. were very wealthy.
 Iroquoian groups (Mohawk, Cayuga)  Wealth created a social class

tended to be rather aggressive and rankings among the tribes’
warlike. inhabitants.
 Largely consisting of deserts. Water  people lived in small, peaceful
and food were hard to get, land too villages along streams and
dry for farming. riverbanks.
 Tribes had to stay on the move; their  Hot summers and long cold winters.
dwellings were temporary.
 A region between the Mississippi area had more people than any other
River and the Rocky Mountains. North American landscape at the time.
 inhabitants were relatively settled Communities numbered to +2,000
hunters and farmers. people.
 Buffalo was a natural resource in the 100 different tribes and groups spoke
region: meat  food, more than 200 dialects, most are gone
skins  shelters and clothing, bones today.
 tools.
tribes and clans enjoyed a comparatively
peaceful life.

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I. 566 federally recognized Indian and Alaskan native tribes and villages in the U.S.

1. A land bridge connected Siberia to Alaska (Beringia  Bering Strait).

1. Countless tribes emerged with an estimated 2,000 languages.

Also hunter-gatherers who made a

first to domesticate plants that later

were located in the

Mound building continued and

Clovis Points (Paleoindian Culture)

Tools (Archaic Culture)

Mounds (different cultures)

was located along the flood plain

 Known also as Eastern Woodlands,  a mild climate and an abundance of

 The Algonkians (Powhatan) relied on  The tribes there (Wakashan, Haida)

 Iroquoian groups (Mohawk, Cayuga)  Wealth created a social class

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